


It Had to Be You

by tnnyoh



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: DOTO spoilers, F/M, Holidays, Post DotO, References to Canon, emsider, soft little moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2017-11-21
Packaged: 2019-02-05 01:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12784404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: Emily and her friend speak of life as they watch the snow falling outside Dunwall tower.





	It Had to Be You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one shot that can be enjoyed as such, the name "Oliver" is lifted from my long running emsider fic "Shadows in Silver"

Emily had learned when she was younger that fairytales were simply stories made up for the delight of young children. Her father informed her that it was a way for children to keep their innocence and not to be broken by the world around them.  
She grew up hating fairytales. in fairytales, Daud never would have killed her mother and she would have had a fairly normal upbringing. in fairytales.... she would have everything.  
Unfortunately for her, fairytales were not true, and this was the life she was given. A child of trauma and darkness with a permanent mark of the void touched on the back of her hand.   
She wondered for a moment if Corvo was plagued with such thoughts, her father was always quite quiet about his grief, but it did not mean he felt it.   
Emily closed her eyes, she was staring out the window of her bedroom and watching the snow fall across Dunwall's streets. This season was one of the most beautiful, and one of the saddest for Emily.   
She remembered her mother the most around these times, holidays and cheer and a focus on family. Of course she had her father, but Corvo was often withdrawn during these times, she couldn't blame him, and if she didn't have Empress duties to attend to, she would have holed up in her room refusing to speak with anyone or do anything.  
She did have one person she could go to, however. the Outsider, now a mortal, had been living in the tower nearing two months. Emily decided that her time might be better spent checking up on him, rather than dwelling on her own thoughts.   
Once you're lost in your mind, sometimes it's hard to find your way out. Her father always told her that.   
She pushed off the bed and exited the room, making a turn to the left down the hall where one of the various guest rooms was made up for the former God. He had taken to the name Oliver, a name she chose for him during one of the previous adventures they had been on. That was when he was still a God, still connected to the Void, still trapped.  
She knocked lightly on the door "Oliver?"   
"Come in" she heard his voice say on the other side of the door, she entered and saw him doing the same thing she had been doing down the hall. She wondered if he had ever seen snow before.   
"It's beautiful," He said, tearing his gaze away from his window to look at her   
Emily nodded "It's always so relaxing to watch" She sat on the bed next to him slowly. He had been a little nervous to physical contact and the closeness of others since he had become mortal again, he flinched a little bit, but other than that showed no signs of discomfort.   
"I've been thinking a lot," Emily said, looking at her feet "Do you mind if I talk to you?"  
He shook his head "Of course not, I've always enjoyed talking to you." He gave her a smile  
"I feel as though my life could have been something more, something better, happier.... even." Emily traced her fingers against the bed in sad circles "My life has been touched by such darkness, my mother was killed, my aunt tried to kill me more than once.... and this" she looked at her mark "This is the remnant of the coup"  
Oliver raised an eyebrow "Emily, do you think that there is nothing light in your life?" He touched her shoulder "Do you think that mark means nothing and is simply a mere memory of Delilah's antics?"  
Emily shrugged "I don't know; if I was the one Delilah trapped in stone... it would have been Corvo"  
"I can barely remember it now, but there were realities where it was you....trapped, cold...alone" He trailed off   
Emily shuddered, thinking not only of the horrifying alternate realities where she had probably died a thousand deaths, but that Oliver ever had to experience anything like that in the heart of the Void.  
"But..." He gathered up the strength to speak again "I did not simply give you my mark because you were the only one available. It was meant to be you, it had to be you"   
She gave him a skeptical look "What's so special about me?"  
"You're the only one of the marked who did not turn bitter, crazy or felt disdain for my existence or assistance. You're the only one who didn't falter, who I felt I could open up with..." He grasped her hand "You are special, Emily. It had to be you, for reasons I don't and didn't understand even when I had all the knowledge in the cosmic universe"  
Emily rested her head against his shoulder "I love you"  
His response was a sharp intake of breath "That's... the first time you've ever spoken those words to me"  
"Were you waiting for them?" Emily teased  
"I... simply expected you to have said them long before now"  
"I could say the same thing about you, Mister," Emily said, not lifting her head. From this spot on the bed, even against his shoulder, she could see the window and the snow falling outside of it. She imagined all the people out there right now, strolling along the streets, some alone and some with family, some rich, and some poor.   
Oliver did not respond for a very long time, or it felt that way to Emily, she had realized in all this time she had never said she loved him, though she had thought it and felt it through many of their shared moments together.   
"I love you too, Emily Kaldwin"  
The pair sat there in Dunwall tower, both touched by darkness and light, watching the snow fall for hours.


End file.
